


Colour Me

by starrelia



Category: Borderlands
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Canon Disabled Character, Cisgender, Disabled Character, Hiatus, M/M, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Slow To Update, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-10
Updated: 2016-05-29
Packaged: 2018-06-07 16:05:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 12,774
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6812521
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starrelia/pseuds/starrelia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Soulmates in the world are indicated by matching tattoos. The easiest and most common way to tell is by the tattoos on the wrists, where they are more often than not. Not everyone gets their soulmates, and find someone who matches them perfectly. No, not everyone has the perfect match.</p><p>Rhys and Jack are just two simple kids who grow up together. Maybe they'll find love, maybe they won't.</p><p>Life and unexplained phenomena are bizarrely cruel that way.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ This isn't long like I wanted it to be.  
> Indefinite updates.  
>  **Edit:** Child Jack inspired by [velocesmells child Jack AU.](http://www.velocesmells.tumblr.com) I stupidly forgot to mention this the first time.

Jack wears too many rings, and Rhys makes a face every time he sees him, making sure to stare right him and that the face is extra-weird for extra-effect. The bandaged boy glares at Rhys the moment he notices, brings one finger up to drag his lower eyelid down and stick his tongue out, and Rhys brings his own hands up and presses his thumbs against his head and sticks his tongue out at Jack. “Behave,” Kyara, Jack’s mother, calls out and Rhys’s own mother pinches his ear.

He tries not to whine, but it slips out of his mouth regardless and he flails his stiff prosthetic and his arm for a little bit before his mother finally lets go. He’s running over to Jack when Kyara lets go of his hand and he tries to pounce the shorter boy, but he ends up managing to catch Rhys and not bump into his mother.

“Bye mum!” Rhys cries out as Jack holds him up on wobbly legs and tries to run off, one hand waving frantically as he leaves a few steps before Jack completely collapses and they both fall into awful heaps together. He ends up laughing when Jack’s face plants into his stomach, oofing when it hurts but still giggling. “Jaaaaaack, you’re so _stupid.”_

Jack pokes his side harshly once, twice, then continues at it when Rhys starts to enter a laughing fit. He only stops poking when other kids start to look at them oddly, and Rhys shoves Jack off, sits up, and does his best to glare at anyone that looks at them funny. Though, he can’t keep the glare up when Jack is finally sitting up and leaning in far too close. “Nooo,” he whines when Jack pushes at his face, “stop thaaaat.”

“You stop that!” Jack argues. “You’re in my face!”

“You’re in _my_ face, ya jerk!”

“Nuh-uh.” Jack continues to push at his face and Rhys has to settle on his hands behind him when he nearly falls over, and Jack snickers and retracts his hand from Rhys’s face finally. “Sooo, ya gonna get up and go to close with me or nah?”

Rhys swats at him, checks over Jack’s shoulder, and looks back when he’s sure their mothers are gone. “No, no skipping,” Rhys says, firm, “if my mum’s told I’m skipping again she’s gonna—she’s gonna make me into a kebab. She said so!”

Jack looks at him weird then and reaches over to pinch his flesh arm through his sweater. “You’re too skinny for a kebab.”

He snorts and swats at Jack’s hand again. “Gee, thanks! I’ll tell my mum and she’ll be like, gasp! Jack’s so right.” He stands up and brushes dust off his trousers and crosses his arms when Jack reaches out for help standing up. They both glare at each other for a bit, Jack’s being scarier than Rhys’s, and he forces himself up. “C’moooon. We’ve like, ten minutes Jaaaack, let’s gooooo. _Let’s goooooo.”_

“Shut uuuuuuup.” Jack drawls, trying his best to imitate Rhys, and he yelps when he’s smacked on the back of his head. “Whaddaya do that for?”

“Jerk!” Rhys calls out, and he starts running from Jack. “Race ya!”

“Hey! No fair! Wait for me! _Wait!_ ”

* * *

Jack flicks another rubber band at the wall and Rhys tries not to roll his eyes as he  _actually_ tries to do his homework. “JJ,” Rhys starts and Jack groans. “It’s Jack!” he whines, finally not playing with the rubber bands he probably stole from somewhere and Rhys ignores him. “Your mum’s like, downstairs. D’ya wanna do your homework now?”

“Nope!” Jack says cheerfully and he goes back to taking another rubber band out. He aims it at Rhys briefly and he immediately brings his book up to shield himself from Jack, only for the bandaged boy to flick rubber band at the wall again. “I’ll do it _laterrrr.”_

“You always say that! ‘Ohhh hurhur, lookit me, I’m JJ-“

“Jack!”

“I’m JJ and I’m too cool for school!”

“I am!”

“No you’re not! You’re as cool as… as… as Hugo! That’s right!” Rhys sits up proper and glares at Jack, his book now at his chest. “And you’re totally not cool for skippin’ homework and everythin’.”

Jack twirls one rubber band on his index finger, not really looking at Rhys. “Homework’s easy.” He says after ten minutes, and Rhys resists the urge to throw his book at Jack.

His mother will be really mad at him if he did that.

“Sooo, why aren’t you doin’ it?”

“ ‘cause I don’t wanna.”

“It’s because you’re lazy! And stupid.”

“Hey! I’m not stupid!”

He straightens his back up. “Oh yeah? Then do your homework if it’s soooo easy! Like, how come it’s easy for you and not me, huh?”

“I’uhno! You probably don’t get it!?”

“I do get it! I just—I just can’t do it!”

Jack finally drops the rubber band, gets off of Rhys’s bed, and makes his way over to him and plops down. “What’re you stuck on anyway?” Jack leans close and squints at Rhys’s notebook, then at the book and he swipes the book away.

“Hey!” Rhys cries out, but Jack doesn’t seem to care as he looks at the questions then over to Rhys’s notebook.

He points at the first one that Rhys manages to finish and frowns. “Ya did it wrong.” He grabs at one of Rhys’s pencils and puts it in between the pages, then flips over to find the answer and he points at it. Discouragingly enough, Jack’s right—the answer is completely wrong and Rhys swallows and looks away. “Hey uh… let’s do it together! Then I won’t have to think about it when I’m copying from you!”

Blinking his wet eyes, Rhys looks at Jack. “You’ll do it? With me? Homework? Really?”

“I mean, yeah? Then I won’t have to actually work on it later and I’ll just copy from yoooou, y’know. Gotta have my errr… best interests in mind! Or somethin’ my momma says, I’uhno.”

He playfully, and very carefully, punches Jack’s shoulder with his prosthetic hand and places the book down in front of them both so that they can both see. “Help me?” Rhys says and Jack settles besides him, arms crossing in front of him as he squints at the questions again. “Even if you’re tooootally doing this for yourself.”

Jack scoffs. “Of course I am! I only care about myself! Oooonly myself! And my mom. And my cat. Mostly my cat. And my mom.”

“Dumb dumb.” Rhys says, though he’s smiling when he looks back to the questions. He wipes at his wet eyes with his flesh hand and then goes back to working on homework with Jack.

It’s way easier with his help, though Rhys can’t help but think it’s unfair that Jack is never there yet he seems to get it really well.

At least Rhys can cheat from him in tests and not get in trouble for it, because Jack’s _the mega-best._ And he’s sure that Jack will punch him if he says ‘mega-best’ out-loud, so Rhys makes sure not to do that.

Jack’s the best and the worst.

* * *

Rhys has to go outside to figure out where Jack is, because well—when Rhys has his nightmares and Jack is over for a sleepover, he always wakes up and finds him there to comfort him and it’s just—

When he wakes up this time, Jack isn’t there, and he’s really scared. Lynne, mum, is asleep and he doesn’t like waking her up. He hugs his stuffed rabbit close to his chest with one arm and begins to wander around the dark house, eyes slowly adjusting to the dim light and Rhys bumbles around in the darkness for a bit more before he finally sees light in the kitchen.

Padding his way over to there, he catches sight of Jack pouring water into a small bowl and the boy raises his hand and presses his index to his mouth when he catches sight of Rhys. “SHHHHH.” He shushes far too loudly and Rhys makes a face at Jack, far too tired to really argue or mock him. “Follow me! I gotta show ya a thin’ and she’s right outside, okay? C’mon, just don’t be loud about it!”

“You’re louder.” Rhys says softly, and Jack flinches when he realises Rhys is right. He waves Rhys off, however, and instead picks the bowl of water up and begins to make his way outside. He’s wearing his white with [obviously] yellow sun-pattern pajamas and Rhys quietly follows after him, outside, to see what all the fuss is about.

Jack leads him to their backyard, where they’re trying to grow a… a chestnut tree, he thinks it’s called. He squats next to Jack as he puts the bowl down and Rhys squints again and realises, no no, they’re trying to grow _walnuts._

Walnuts is gerdu. Chestnut is ghoncheh. He really needs to remember that—but to be fair, it’s like really late at night! They shouldn’t even be up at this—

 _They shouldn’t be up at this time!_ He looks at Jack with wide-eyed panic and he’s met with a glare from the other. “Why’dja choose now ta get all dumb and fussy?” Jack whines, surprisingly quiet, and Rhys’s  panic fades away and he, instead, glares at him. “Shhh! My new pal’s gonna come ‘ere soon.”

“Your new pal?” Rhys asks incredulously. “You don’t know how to make friends!”

“I’m friends with Niiisha and Tiiiiim!” Jack whines.

“… I don’t even know hoooooow you are!” Rhys whines back, and Jack immediately slaps his hand on his mouth when he… hears something, and Rhys hears it too.

It’s a meow.

Padding its way over to them is a little thing, a cat, and it stares at Rhys with big, frightened eyes before it’s coaxed closer by Jack. It doesn’t have a collar or a tag and Rhys looks at Jack curiously. “I found ‘er like, a few days ago.” Jack says, proud and quiet. “And I’m thinkin’, I’m gonna save her! Because I’m a hero-“

“Heroes aren’t real.” Rhys interjects and Jack smacks him. “Ow.”

“ _Shut up, doofball!”_

“What’s a-“

“Shut up! Anyway, so like. I’m gonna be _a hero_ like in the movies and I’m gonna save a cat!” Jack voice raises and lowers constantly as he’s talking and Rhys just stares at him, wondering when his friend became this absolutely stupid.

He blinks and stares at Jack, and he stares back at Rhys as though waiting for some sort of response to his act. He flaps his arms and grins, braces showing, and Rhys tongues at his own for a moment. Just to make sure he’s not like, dreaming or something.

Jack never has braces in his dreams, and neither does Rhys. “Um.” He begins. “You sound super dumb, y’know that?”

“ _No,_ I _don’t._ I sound like a _goodie two shoes._ If you’re not gonna appreciate my efforts to take care of Ms. Supplepuff-“

“ _Supplepuff!?”_

“-then you don’t deserve to touch her and her super fluffy fur!”

“JJ, it’s _three._ Mum is gonna _kill us both._ Please get back in so we can sleep!”

“At least let Ms. Supplepuff drink her water, jeez Reyola!”

Rhys pauses. “Reyola? That doesn’t even-“

“Shut up.”

Jack turns his attention back to the small, fluffy cat and Rhys looks at – her too and tilts his head to the side. She really is pretty, so Rhys can’t be too mad that he has to squat outside in the cold night because Jack is dumb and weirder than Marinette in class who pretends she talks to ghosts.

That’s weird. This is weirder somehow.

When the cat has finished drinking the water up, she nuzzles up to Jack, looks at Rhys with her big, beady eyes again then runs off to not be seen again until… maybe a few days later? Rhys doesn’t know a thing about cats.

Jack picks the bowl up with one hand and grabs at Rhys, carefully, and tugs him up. There’s a big grin on Jack’s face, though he’s squinting and his hand twitches slightly and Rhys can bet that he’s super tired, like Rhys is. “Let’s go back in now!” Jack cheerfully sings, and he grabs at Rhys’s elbow and drags him around.

Rhys, in turn, tries not to let his bunny fall out of his tight hold. They put the bowl back and sneak past his mother’s room before Jack takes him to his room. When there, he slowly closes the door and is about to settle onto his bedroll before he comes to a pause. “Hey,” Jack starts, “why was Monsieur Responsible all awake, huh?”

He’s quiet for a while and he looks down, feeling a tad ashamed. Jack’s face evens out and he blinks. He makes his way over to his bed, where Rhys is just sitting on, and he urges the taller boy to lie down. He crawls into bed with him and hugs Rhys and rubs his back.

Rhys falls asleep that way, and when he wakes up Jack is back on his bedroll with his body impossibly curling up on itself.

* * *

“Did you actually bring a spoon and fork this time for me too?” Jack says as he falls next to Rhys on the cafeteria bench, eyes focusing on how Rhys is bringing out his steel lunch box, still warm with food, and removing the lid. Rhys kind of wants to smile at the way Jack looks at him and he reaches into his bad to bring out a plastic bag with two pairs of utensils, and Jack swipes them away from him.

They both have a spoon soon enough, and Rhys tries to sit in a way so that sharing the saffron-rice and chicken is much easier. “You should make your own food for once.” Rhys says after he swallows a spoonful of food. “My mum doesn’t care but seriously, make your own food.”

“I have my Rhysie man for that!” Jack says loudly, thankfully having swallowed his food already or else Rhys would have to deal with spit rice all over him and he really doesn’t want to deal with that. “Besides, my momma doesn’t wanna make rice. She hates it. When my dad comes around, though he makes the best rice!”

“Definitely no way better than my mum’s.” Rhys says and Jack squints at him. “That’s fact, Jay, can’t argue with total fact. My mum’s rice is _the best.”_

“You haven’t even had my dad’s rice!”

“I’m pretty sure I diiiiiiiiid… uhhh…”

“That was four years ago! Ya don’t remember Jack! … Gettit? Jack? _Don’t remember Jack?”_ when Rhys doesn’t laugh, Jack’s expression sours. “Ya just don’t get humour, okay?”

“No,” Rhys says with a small smile, “you’re just an idiot.”

Jack shoves at Rhys’s face then and it’s hard enough that Rhys nearly flails and falls off the bench. Jack grabs him immediately afterwards and drags him close again, back onto the bench, and he’s furrowing his brows while he stares at Rhys. “You’re really weak, y’know that?”

“Not everyone can be like you!” Rhys nearly snaps, chest suddenly tight, and his eyes fall on the arm that Jack has that Rhys has to replace, and he seems to go immediately quiet at that. He looks away from Jack and tugs himself out of his loose grip and shoves the lunchbox at Jack. “I don’t wanna eat anymore.”

He taps the cafeteria table, stares at the wonderful food Lynne has made, and Jack puts the lunch box lid back on and gives it back to Rhys. “My momma’s gonna be thirty minutes late-“

“That’s called _half an hour._ ” Rhys interrupts snootily and he tries not to snicker at the scowl Jack gives him. He’s trying to be angry! But it’s kind of hard to be when Jack leans in super close and makes his super weird, not really angry but totally angry face, and Rhys bites his lower lip really hard to try and contain his giggle.

Jack’s face seems to relax at that. “The amount of times I tell you to shut up is like, really high. Like. Really high. Shut up. Anyway- we’ll eat it the half-hour that my mom’s not there.”

“Yeah,” he agrees, “that sounds good.”

Jack doesn’t skip class for the rest of the day after that, like he said he will in the morning, and Rhys feels surprisingly happy about that. Besides, they’re two years too young to skip—or well, Rhys is. Jack’s pretty much the age of skipping now.

He’s almost a teen!

* * *

They’re in Jack’s bedroom, surrounded by figures and posters and tons of other stuff that Jack likes to collect, when Rhys notices that he’s staring at his wrists. He’s glaring at them both, just not really doing much other than that, and Rhys tilts his head. He’s lying on his stomach, so he holds himself up on his elbows and rests his chin on the heels of his palms and watches Jack for a little bit.

“Hey, yo, what’re you doin’?” Rhys asks, and Jack looks at him before he looks back at his wrists. He doesn’t answer and Rhys furrows his brow. “No, really, what are you doing? Does it hurt or something?”

Jack sits up from where he’s lying down on the floor, shimmies over to Rhys, and lifts his wrists up to show them to him. “It’s not _there_ yet!” Jack whines and it takes Rhys some time to even comprehend what Jack means.

“Your tattoos?” he asks, and Jack stares. “No, my wrist pimples!” Jack grouches in response and Rhys smacks him.

At that, Jack inhales sharply through his nose, looking ready to yell or something, but he looks away and slumps his shoulders. “My tattoos aren’t there yet.” Jack murmurs, angry, and Rhys tilts his head to the side. “When are they gonna appear?!”

“My mum got hers when she was twenty.” Rhys says, trying to be helpful. “She said that it takes some people a lot of time before they appear, sooo…”

“But my mom got it when she was ten! _Ten!_ I’m almost friggin’ thirteen and my tattoos haven’t even showed up yet!”

He chews at his lower lip as Jack glares at his wrists again, his face glowing red and bright and angry, and Rhys looks around Jack’s room, wondering what to say really. He never worries about the whole tattoo stuff, so it’s… not like Rhys can be much help. “Um,” Rhys begins, “you’re not your mother though.”

“I _wanna_ be like her!” Jack snaps, frustration and agitation clear in his voice and Rhys flinches. “I just—why’s mine takin’ so long?! I want—I want my tattoo now!”

“You’re soundin’ like a kid!” Rhys argues and Jack just slams his hands down onto the floor of his room and he flinches from that. “You’re um—your tattoo will show up! Stop rushing it?”

Jack bares his teeth at him. “Rayhi, you’re an idiot.” Jack says, bitter and malicious and Rhys actually shrinks. “I hate you! I hate _you!_ Your mother got it when she was _twenty!_ ” Jack’s nearly yelling now and his mother isn’t around to run up and ask Jack to stop. “ _You_ don’t have to worry **at all** because your mother is—“

He goes quiet. Rhys waits.

For once, Jack seems to realise something and his expression falls. He looks at Rhys dumbly and he eventually climbs onto the bed with him.

Rhys is still lying on his stomach and Jack is sitting next to him, hands on his lap and eyes focusing on everywhere but Rhys. “I nearly said something really awful.” Jack starts talking again and he furrows his brow. He looks at Rhys with a pinched expression, finally, and he tilts his head to look up at Jack better. “I- uh. I’m sorry.”

“Was it really going to be that bad?” Rhys asks.

Jack shifts uncomfortably and he starts rubbing his left wrist with his right thumb. “Yeah.” Jack admits. “Like, really, really bad. Super bad. The kinda bad that in like, TV people stop being friends over?”

“Oh.” A beat. “This isn’t TV, Jack.”

“Whatever! You know what I mean, okay? I’m sorry! I nearly said something super shitty—“

“Your mother would kill you if she heard that.”

“ _Rhys.”_

“I won’t tell her! Promise!”

Jack sighs. “Okay, so like? What I was gonna say? Was super bad. Crazy bad. The kinda bad that – I already said that. But just. I’m sorry. I’m really sorry that I nearly said it.”

Rhys blinks, crosses his arms under himself and rests his head on them. “It’s okay. Thanks for apologising.”

The bed bounces a bit as Jack falls on his back. Rhys lifts his legs up and crosses his ankles and he doesn’t bother trying to strain to look at Jack. “My tattoos’ll come eventually, right?” Jack asks after a while, though it seems like he’s asking himself and not Rhys.

“Definitely.” Rhys says. Then, “wanna play a game together?” and Jack sits up again, looking competitive and ready to fight the world, and Rhys tries not to laugh. He shifts and gets up, sits next to Jack and places his hands by his sides.

Jack places his own by his sides as well, though one of his rests on Rhys’s hand. “Hell. _Yeah._ Get ready to get your ass kicked, loser!”

“Sooo original.”

* * *

Lynne gets a call one day, from Kyara, and Rhys tries to eavesdrop and hear as much as he can from the call. He hasn’t seen Jack in a few days, not even in school, and Nisha and Tim haven’t seen him either. He leans against the wall and tries to listen, but Lynne starts speaking in hushed, panicked tones and Rhys’s brows furrow.

She ends the call soon enough and immediately catches sight of Rhys in the archway and he tenses up. He expects her to be angry or upset or something, but she just seems… really sad, which is upset, but not in the way he expects it. She’s walking over to him quickly and she falls on her knees and hugs Rhys close, hugs him tightly and Rhys can only hug her with one arm because the prosthetic needs to be cleaned.

“ _Madar?”_ Rhys asks. “ _Chi shode?”_

Lynne buries her hands in Rhys’s hair, gently and reassuring more than anything else, and she kisses his nose. _“Jacko madaresh bayad bargaddan be Lobnan, pesaram.”_ She says softly, voice catching in her throat and Rhys is… Rhys is scared, honestly.

_“Maman?”_

_“Ye chizzi shode be pedareshoon. Negaran nabash. Biya, biya, biya ghaza bokhorrim va ba’addesh mirim biroon baseye bastani. Be oon chimigi?”_

“Okay. _Bashe._ ” Rhys lets her lead him away to the kitchen, his stomach tied up in knots and anxiety and he really doesn’t want Jack to be gone. “ _Barmigardan?”_

_“Balle, mahheman. Barmigardan.”_

That still doesn’t soothe his nerves much, but it helps him calm down a bit more now that he knows that Jack is definitely gonna come back. He squeezes Lynne’s hand and she squeezes back.

* * *

He doesn’t see Jack for a week and a few days, and he doesn’t know what has really happened that means that Jack has to leave for this long. He feels itchy all over, uncomfortable that Jack isn’t here, and he swallows and looks down and away and tries not to think about what it means that Jack  _isn’t here._

Yvette keeps people from bullying him while Jack is away, and he has never been happier to know the older teen more than he does right now. Vaughn also helps, though Rhys didn’t realise he’d be this helpful.

He thinks at first that Vaughn is kinda like Rhys. Maybe not annoyed and barely included because of the same reasons as Rhys, but still annoyed and barely included, but then he learns that Vaughn really isn’t like him.

Vaughn is actually really good at sports, he just pretends he isn’t because he doesn’t like most people in gym and Rhys doesn’t blame him. It also gives him an excuse to sit next to Rhys and talk to him and distract him.

But it still doesn’t keep the anxiety from building and building the more Jack isn’t around. To make up for his lack of presence, however, Rhys has started to try and feed the stray cat that hangs around his house.

She comes to like him, though Rhys definitely thinks she needs a new name. _Who names a cat Supplepuff? Seriously?_

Why doesn’t she have a normal name like the cat Jack has at home? Which, speaking of Marion, Lynne and he have been taking care of her for a bit while Kyara and Jack are gone.

He really misses Jack.

* * *

When he comes back, Rhys doesn’t expect it or hear about it. It’s eleven, and Lynne is asleep and barely wakes up as the doorbell rings. Rhys wakes up, instead, and stupidly heads downstairs to open the door. He rubs at his eyes when he opens the door, gaze blurry and out of focus for a bit before he finally manages to see a familiar sight.

It’s Jack.

At first, Rhys _really_ wakes up—his eyes widen and his breath catches in his throat. He opens his mouth in a big smile, about to say something, but then he actually _takes in_ Jack’s face and his expression immediately melts.

Jack looks like he’s about to start crying. Jack never cries.

He stumbles into Rhys’s house and he falls over because of Jack’s weight, but he manages to grab the door in time and slams it shut. He holds Jack with one arm and crumbles down onto the floor and he follows after Rhys. He buries his face into Rhys’s shoulder and curls into him.

Jack doesn’t cry, because Jack never cries, but he’s really quiet and Rhys is too tired to even try and guess what has happened in Lebanon. He manages to drag Jack back into his room, though he wonders why he’s not at home with Kyara instead but immediately decides not to think about it, because Jack is sad.

Jack is never sad.

He sleeps in Rhys’s bed, with him, and clings to him and doesn’t let go. When Rhys wakes up, Jack is still clinging to him and Lynne is at his door, watching them both, and she closes it to go and call the school to see if Rhys can stay at home today.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Edit:** Translation of the conversation between Rhys and his mother:
> 
> "Mother? What happened?"
> 
> "Jack and his mother need to return to Lebanon, my boy/son."
> 
> "Mom?"
> 
> "Something happened to his father. Don't worry. Come, come, come eat dinner/lunch and then afterwards we'll go out for ice cream. What do you say to that?"
> 
> "Okay. Yes. Will they return?"
> 
> "Yes, my dear/moon. They'll return."


	2. Chapter 2

The first day that Jack is back is really weird. He mostly sleeps the day away, and Rhys can’t help but be disappointed at that. Jack’s asleep and heavy, and only gets up briefly to go to the bathroom and Rhys gives him one of the disposable toothbrushes that his mother keeps, just in case. He hasn’t changed out of his jeans and t-shirt since he came back, and Rhys wonders why Kyara hasn’t come back to pick him up yet.

Lynne checks up on Jack constantly, tries to shake him awake and he’ll whine and curl into Rhys’s bed and hides in there. When Rhys goes to check up on him at some point, Jack is trembling but he still isn’t crying.

He looks over at Rhys with glossy eyes and presses his fists against his eyes, presses and presses until it hurts and Rhys yanks Jack’s hands away and crawls into his own bed with him.

It isn’t until five in the afternoon that Jack seems to finally be okay, and he’s sitting with them in the living room, on the sofre—blanket? Like picnic blanket? He needs to go and ask what ‘sofre’ means in English – and Rhys has to be the one to urge him to eat.

Lynne is the one who succeeds, however. “Jack,” she says a little too loudly, “if you want be – to be a hero, you need to eat.” She shifts in place and Jack looks at her blankly. “Heroes don’t be-“ She looks at Rhys briefly, and he, as quietly as he can, says ‘become’ and she begins again. “Heroes don’t become heroes because they don’t eat.”

Jack looks at her with a glare and a scowl, and Rhys wants to smack Jack and ask him to not do that. But Lynne isn’t affected, and Jack’s shoulders slump after a while. He grabs at one of the green, flowery plates and shimmies next to Lynne, and she pours him rice from the pot next to her.

He uses his fork to grab chicken legs (Rhys gives him a face at that, and Jack thankfully actually sticks his tongue out at him) and then covers his rice with the chicken water – as Rhys has come to call it, even though he’s sure it’s more oil from his mother’s cooking of the chicken – and begins to eat, slowly.

Rhys watches him as he flinches and his face goes green, and he picks his pace up in eating so quickly that he worries Jack is gonna choke. Lynne pets Rhys’s knee, though, and she looks at Jack and watches him for anything that might happen, and he calms down considerably at his mother’s presence.

Lunch goes well enough, even if it is extremely late for lunch and Rhys doesn’t eat much because he’s already eaten and Lynne doesn’t eat at all. There’s colour coming back to Jack’s skin, Rhys wants to say, and he gently smacks his friend’s back when he starts to cough. “Jay?” Rhys asks, and Jack glares. “Jack,” he corrects and Rhys smiles.

“D’ya wanna… watch TV? Movies?” Rhys fumbles over his words, a bit ashamed at how badly he’s doing this, and Jack looks at him then at his empty plate and blinks. He moves to pick his plate up and take it to the kitchen and both Lynne and Rhys reach out and grab parts of Jack – Lynne his knee, and Rhys his wrist – and he looks at them quizzically.

“I’ll take care of dishes _azizi_ , you watch. Have fun, Jack.” Lynne says and she moves to gather the plates and the sofre, and Rhys tugs Jack along so that they’re sitting on the sofa instead.

It’s still really hard to focus on the TV, because Jack just looks so damn angry and Rhys doesn’t know why. He wants to ask, really, but the angry look, the fact that Jack’s eyes were glossy, and basically everything else keeps him from doing so.

He wants to pry, but Lynne always says to not pry too quick, too much, and too rudely.

So, Rhys doesn’t because he loves his mother dearly.

Jack goes home before seven, and Rhys feels weirdly lonely.

* * *

When they go back to school again, because Jack has the fortune of coming on Friday and having an entire weekend to wait before he comes back, and Kyara has her hand on his shoulder as she guides him to the school.

Rhys can only see her eyes, so he doesn’t know what she’s thinking or what’s going on behind her niqab, but he thinks she’s worried. When she sees Rhys and Lynne, her eyes crinkle kindly and he smiles as widely as he can to her, because Kyara’s eyes are prettiest when she’s happy.

“Be good.” Kyara says to Jack, and he nods quietly and the smiling-crinkles near her eyes are gone. She looks at Lynne, nods her head slightly and his mother waves, and she ruffles Rhys’s hair before she’s heading back to her car and Lynne does as well.

The moment they’re not in sight anymore, Jack turns to leave and Rhys scrambles to grab his elbow tightly. “Um.” Rhys says when Jack looks over to him, expression angry, and he shrinks slightly. “Uhhhh.”

Jack’s still glaring. Rhys looks at his elbow, at his hand, and blinks his eyes shut really hard. ‘ _No, no not now you big crybaby.’_ He thinks and he lets go of Jack’s elbow briefly to rub at his eyes. “At least come to first period.” Rhys says, trying not to let the wobbliness of his voice show, and Jack stares.

“You’re dumb. And stupid. And all those things.” Jack says, though he doesn’t seem malicious at all, and Rhys stiffens up. “I don’t wanna be in Taaaassiteeer’s though!” Jack whines, voice awkward as he tries to talk and Rhys appreciates his efforts, even if he does sound like a really shitty dub.

“C’moooon.” Rhys says, his voice unnecessarily quivering and he drags Jack away with him to first period.

Mr. Tassiter is the worst, though, and Rhys doesn’t blame Jack for wanting to skip. His mother _will_ kebab Rhys though, he doesn’t doubt that at all.

[Even though a part of him does have to remind him that kebabing humans is impossible.]

* * *

Having Jack in class isn’t… going as well Rhys wants it to. The moment he sees Tassiter, Jack immediately causes a scene. He doesn’t pay attention, kicks at his desk constantly, and he loudly talks over whatever lesson Mr. Tassiter has to give. When the teacher calls him out on it, with mouth snarling and face red with anger, Jack yells at him.

They argue back and forth like that, and Rhys shrinks into his seat and covers his ears when his classmates start to cheer Jack on. Everyone hates Tassiter and the way he treats them _all_ awfully, but Rhys doesn’t want to _be_ here as Jack yells and Tassiter yells back.

He just wants class to be finished—he hates history anyway. He can _never_ remember a thing, and it’s never—never fun with Mr. Tassiter  because he makes everything worse and a lot of work.

But still, Rhys doesn’t want to be here as Tassiter marches over to Jack and barely holds himself back from yelling, and Rhys wonders if he’s going to—going to actually do something really stupid, like hit his friend or whatever, but Tassiter slams his ruler down onto Jack’s table.

“Go to the principal’s office _right. Now._ **John.** ” Tassiter practically spits out, and Rhys has never seen Jack look that red in the face before. He’s fuming and shaking with anger, and Tassiter turns around to head back to the board to continue teaching—

Jack grabs at the papers on his desk, crumbles them up into a ball, and throws it as hard as he can at Tassiter. “IT’S JACK!” he nearly screams and then storms out of the classroom before Tassiter can say anything else to rile Jack up even further.

He doesn’t think Jack goes to the principal’s office, and as he expects he doesn’t see Jack again for the rest of the day. Tassiter’s fuming for the duration of class and he nearly snaps his ruler the moment the bell rings and all the kids are trying their hardest to escape his class so that they can go to the next one.

Rhys definitely doesn’t feel sorry for Tassiter, but he does feel sorry for the next set of students that bumble into class and are immediately met with a crabby and surly Mr. Tassiter.

The rest of the day is like that. He doesn’t even get to see Jack during lunch break because he’s immediately leaving with Timothy and Nisha to go to parts of the school that Rhys doesn’t like going to. He sits with Sasha and Vaughn today, and he offers them his food to make up for the fact that the cafeteria food is pretty bad.

“Dude, were you in Assiter’s class? _Somethin’_ shoved itself so hard up his butt that—that— _that he was just a plain ol’ shit today!”_ Sasha says and Vaughn is busy cramming cafeteria fries in his mouth because those are the only good things in the café. “Like, seriously? What’s _up_ with ‘im and why’d he have to be so… jerkish?”

Rhys chews on his meat for a bit as Sasha rambles, agitation clear on her face and Rhys flushes when he realises that Jack is to blame for this, really. He swallows and taps his lunchbox with his fork. “Jack yelled at him.” Rhys says, and Sasha and Vaughn both look at him. “He um… I asked him to come to first period with me, okay? I thought he’d y’know, be chill? Okay? With Tassiter…”

Sasha raises an eyebrow. “Didn’t he just-”

“Yes, shuuuush it I’m telling my story here.”

“Pretty dumb story if you ask me, Ri.”

He stares at her a bit. “Don’t call me Ri. It sounds stupid and not at all a clever, funny nickie.”

“Don’t say nickie.”

“Anyway! Uhh… First period, Jack… Oh! Yeah so—asked him to come with me n’stuff, but I’unno I guess Jack was really mad? Or whatever? Because he immediately…” he claps his hands together. “Went like that!”

Vaughn is the one who talks this time. He claps his hands and stares at Rhys. “Okay, Rhys, whaddoes ‘like that’ even _mean?”_

“He just—you know!” he claps again. “Snap! The snapping noise?”

Vaughn makes a face and then snaps his fingers. Rhys snaps his own fingers and points at Vaughn when he does that. “Yes! Like that!” he ignores the way Sasha and Vaughn look at him weirdly. “He just sorta went snap the moment he saw Tassiter. Then when Tassiter called him John, he screamed and threw a paperball at Tassiter and left!”

From in front of him, Sasha tries to whistle and ends up glaring at nothing when she fails. Vaughn whistles for her, and she glares at him too. “Soo… Jack’s to blame? Right?” Vaughn begins, fidgeting uncomfortably from the death glare that Sasha is giving him, and Rhys nods. “He… doesn’t normally do that, right? He doesn’t try to make ‘em mad on purpose, right?”

“Noooo, dude, _noooo._ Jack’s like me!”

“… Yeah, no.” Sasha says and Rhys sighs. “He’s like. Way bigger. And meaner. You’re too nice to be like Jack.”

“That’s nooot what I meeeeeant!”

“Theeeen what did you meeeeeeean?”

“He’s scared of his mum like I am!” Rhys says, stabs another bit of his meat with his fork and shoves it into his mouth. He chews on it quickly, hurriedly, and then swallows and nearly chokes—but not today! He’s sure he’ll choke like, ten seconds later, which will still be today, but still not today. “She’s super used to him skippin’ but he never yelled at a teacher before.”

Vaughn shrugs. Sasha frowns. “Still ‘is fault! I’m really mad about that!” She says loudly and Rhys tries not to sigh. “If it wasn’t for him then Assiter wouldn’t have been so—so dumb today! And extra shitty. Do you know how shitty he is? He’s like shit… shit king of shit castle and-“

“Stoooooooop. Stoooop. _Stop._ If you say the word shit one more time I’m throwing your juice in the trash!”

* * *

He sees Jack again afterschool, and it’s not in the way he expects. He’s glaring at Wilhelm, the biggest and tallest teen in school and Rhys immediately pales. He hears Jack yell something about a fight and Wilhelm just stares at him, and Rhys’s heart is hammering so hard in his chest that it’s actually starting to hurt.

It takes him far too long to respond, but kids are already circling the two and Rhys has to push past a ton of people – bullies, strangers, classmates – to try and get even close enough to try and drag Jack away. He hears a lot of yelling, and he _knows_ that Jack is pretty – pretty tough, but Wilhelm is big and actually _scary._

He has prosthetics too, a lot of them, but unlike Rhys who looks dainty and frail he looks like he’s going to break everyone’s heads with his prosthetics. His father is a prosthetist who’s trying to make some personal adjustments to prosthetics, if Rhys remembers correctly [because he stumbles on Lynne’s laptop once, on a page about a prosthetist named Arlen Morris who has been trying to get ‘cybernetics’ to become a thing] and Wilhelm’s prosthetics are _way better_ than Rhys’s too.

Jack is going to get severely hurt and Rhys’s stomach churns unpleasantly at the thought. He finally gets to the inner ring, having pushed past a lot of people, and the teachers are making their way around too and are trying to get the crowd to disperse.

Despite his fears, Wilhelm is just pressing Jack down on the ground and he watches him slap the dirty floor for a bit before Jack yells ‘UNCLE’ and Wilhelm gets off of him. The moment Jack stands up, he looks at Wilhelm with something… _weird_ in his eyes, and Wilhelm almost kindly rubs his back in response.

Rhys doesn’t know what it means, but the moment he can he grabs at Jack and drags him away. His mother’s car pulls up and Kyara arrives five minutes later, and Rhys shoves Jack towards his mother and quickly ducks into his own mother’s car.

“ _Chi—?”_ Lynne begins but Rhys immediately interrupts with trembling lips and wet eyes. “Go home. I wanna— _mikham beram khune._ I wanna go home.”

He rubs his eyes with the heel of his flesh palm, and Lynne is frowning and glancing over her shoulder when it’s safe to so that she can look at Rhys who is trembling in his seat and she exhales through her nose. “Talk to me at home.” She says, and Rhys nods and rubs his eyes with his arm now. _“Agar gerye darri, gerye kon. Zoggeto negah nadar.”_

Though Rhys nods, he waits until they’re home before he starts crying and Lynne hugs him tightly through it. He hiccups and presses his face into her shoulder, and shame burns his face when he realises that he’s crying so easily. Lynne pushes him away when his crying has calmed down to simple sniffling and Rhys looks up at her with big, wide eyes. “Rhys, _pesaram, chi shod?”_

He tries his best to explain his day to her and her brows furrow, listening attentively as best she can and Rhys doesn’t know why he’s crying.

Really, he doesn’t. But he’s crying and his mother is here, looking at him with worried eyes. She grabs at a tissue later and begins to wipe his tears away and gives him a few more tissues so that he can blow his nose, and Rhys looks away, ashamed.

_“Midoni ke takhsire to nist, magge na?”_

He looks up at her.

“ _Takhsire to nist, azizam. Jack fag’ghat kheilli narahatte.”_ She says softly and rubs Rhys’s back and he wraps his arms around her. _“Va hichi nist to gerye kardan ke bayad khejalat bekishi. Adammi, Rhys.”_

Rhys nods.

_“Borro bekhab ye yekki-do sa’at, va baddesh borro karre madresatto bokon.”_

“Okay.” He says and he hugs Lynne again before he goes upstairs to his room, to sleep, and he curls up in bed and hugs his bunny close.

He nearly forgets to take the prosthetic off, and then he’s looking at the beady-black eyes of his pink rabbit and Rhys buries his face into her.

Rhys’ll worry about Jack later. For now, he just—he just really wants to sleep, because crying has made him awfully tired and he hates it whenever that happens.

“Night, Bunny.” Rhys says, and falls asleep to the thought that he really, really needs to name his bunny later.

 

The rest of his day after his nap is pretty uneventful. He works on homework assigned today, nearly falls asleep at the dining table in the living room [that they never use because they eat on the floor] while trying to do said homework, and ends up watching TV for a bit then going to play with his DS to pass the time.

He jolts when he hears a ringing in his room and he looks around, trying to find the source of the ringing before he realises it’s his mobile, and Rhys stumbles around trying to garb it and he answers it without checking who it is. “ ‘Allo?” Rhys asks, and he beams when he hears Jack’s voice on the other end.

 _“HEY NERD, HOW’RE YA?”_ Jack practically yells, the energy in his voice somewhat back and Rhys tries not to point out how… weird Jack sounds when he’s forcing himself to be happy and not mad.

“Ruuuude. I should hang up _right now_ -“

 _“Do it! I dare ya!”_ Jack teases, and Rhys pouts. “ _Hah! Knew it! Wuuuuss!”_

“Ugh, I hate you!”

“ _Hate you tooooo. Anyway, shut up because listen, I got some shit to tell you and they’re great-“_

“Sure, Jack.” Rhys rolls his eyes though Jack can’t see it, and he holds his mobile up with his prosthetic while his flesh hand turns his DS off. “I’ll make sure to paaaay soooo muuuuuch aaaatteeeeentiooooooon…” Rhys says slooooowly and Jack lets out an ‘ugh’ that gets longer and louder with each drag of the letter.

After that, however, they talk easily. Rhys mostly pokes fun at everything Jack has to say which is – to his surprise – about a romcom that he watched with Nisha, Timothy and Kyara out of curiosity. He hates it, and he’s just complaining about every bit that treats the girl like shit while he’s also fawning over the boy and girl because they are both ‘super hot’.

Rhys thinks that says something about Jack, but he doesn’t really get what it means and Jack just keeps going and going about the romcom. He’s _so weirdly passionate_ about the romcom and Rhys _really_ wants to ask him _why_ he cares about the romcom so damn much.

 _“Hey.”_ Jack asks out of nowhere _. “I- um. Today. Sorry. Sorry about. Today. And. And stuff. Today. Shit.”_

Rhys is quiet for a bit. “I’m sorry for makin’ you come to Tass’s class with me.” Rhys responds, and Jack snorts and then laughs really hard. “Wh- Jack? No really, I’m so-“

 _“No! Nono, I know you are. But no, uh- tomorrow! I’ll be ‘round fooor… for science. I promise! I’d make a… a pinky-promise, because you like that stuff, “_ Jack says, _“but, phone and all. I mean, I_ wanna _give you a virtual pinky-promise but it’s not as great as a real pinky-promise and-“_

“JJ? Shut up.”

_“Rude!”_

“You’re ruder!”

_“Nu-uh! … Okay, yu-huh! I uh, I caaaaan’t lie about that.”_

Rhys sighs. “Um…” Rhys shifts. “I’m still sorry, though.”

Jack just sighs, overdramatic and far too loud, then. “ _Doooon’t be. Seriously. Let’s goooo… I’uno! Wait! Wait wait wait—let’s go to Moxxi’s diner tomorrow!”_

“I’ll have to ask my mum—“

“ _Gooo ask her now! We’ll go to her diner then I can tell you, face-to-face, everything I said about that romcom aaaaall oooover again!”_

“Noooo! Stay awaaaay!”

 _“Neeveeeer! Anyway, gotta go! I gotta sleep, or else mom’s gonna lose it.”_ Jack forces out, suddenly angry, and Rhys furrows his brow. Rhys didn’t do anything, did he? He’s not sure if he did and he doesn’t know how to bring it up. However _,_ Jack’s voice brightens up again when he says, _“Bye, Reyeyeyoli!”_

“Uh—y-yeah! Yeah, bye JayJay!” Rhys stutters out, his body warm with Jack’s sudden burst of energy near the end.

There’s a big smile on his face when he hangs up, though it immediately fades when he remembers how angry Jack was today and he puts his phone next to him, plugs the charger in, and lies back in bed and hugs his bunny close. “I’m worried for Jack.” He says to the pink plush, and Rhys stares at his bunny for a bit when he realises he still hasn’t given her a name.

He pouts as he thinks and his eyes brighten up. “Yasaman.” He says really softly. “I’m calling you Yasaman.”

With that, he goes to brush his teeth and relieve himself, and when he comes back he yells ‘goodnight’ to his mother and crawls into bed to go to sleep.

Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll be writing translations here from now on, if that's okay.
> 
> Chi = What
> 
> Mikham beram khune = I want to go home.
> 
> Agar gerye darri, gerye kon. Zoggeto negah nadar. = If you need to cry, cry. Idk how to translate the second half, but when you cry you feel that weird feeling in the back of your throat? Like it's heavy and bumpy? She's telling him to cry so that bumpy feeling doesn't feel worse.
> 
> Pesaram, chi shod = My son, what happened?
> 
> Midoni ke takhsire to nist, magge na? Takhsire to nist, azizam. Jack fag’ghat kheilli narahatte. = You know it's not your fault, right? It's not your fault, my dear. Jack is just really upset.
> 
> Va hichi nist to gerye kardan ke bayad khejalat bekishi. Adammi, Rhys. = There's nothing in crying that you should be embarrassed over. You're human.
> 
> Borro bekhab ye yekki-do sa’at, va baddesh borro karre madresatto bokon. = Go to sleep for one to two hours, and then afterwards go do your schoolwork.


	3. Chapter 3

The next day _does_ prove to be better. Jack isn’t around for most of the classes, but he does come in for Glee Katoa’s science class. Her brother teaches grade eleven and twelve biology and chemistry, and Rhys sort of hopes that the brother is as nice and as welcoming as Ms. Glee. He’s in class a few minutes early, having not seen Jack since lunch and he hangs out with Sasha and her older sister, Fiona, while he isn’t around.

Fiona’s _really_ pretty and she’s going to graduate this year, which kind of makes Rhys sad because she always manages to steal good snacks for Sasha and him whenever she can. She always insists that Rhys’s going to be taller than her someday, and he totally agrees because she wears heels and he’s almost her height.

He’s reviewing some of last week’s assigned homework, trying to see if he can make any last minute fixes, when he catches a glimpse of yellow from the corner of his eyes and he looks over to the classroom door to see Jack sneak in, slide in next to him and snap his fingers at Rhys with a big grin on his face.

“How’d you slide?” Rhys asks, and then he looks down and makes a face at the sight of Jack’s shoes. “Wh- where’d you get those?”

Jack grins widely as he once again, _slide_ on his… his wheel-shoes? Rhys is sure there is a name for them, but he can’t remember and, honestly, he’s just really angry right now. “Jack, where’d you get those? Jack! Stop – stop skating! Sliding! Whatever you’re doin’, stoppit!”

“Heeeeeelys!” Jack sings enthusiastically as he slides before he smacks right into the wall. He stumbles back, nearly slips and falls due to the wheels of his shoes, and he manages to roll back towards Rhys. Jack slams his elbow down onto his desk, attempting to pose, and he grins at Rhys. “Tim got me these as a joke but _jokes on him, I **love** ‘em.”_

Rhys stares at him blankly. Jack’s still grinning. “I really hate you.” Rhys says and Jack snickers. He makes his way next to Rhys and falls down onto the empty seat beside him, places his elbows on the desk and rests his chin on the heels of his palms. “Are you—are you gonna take ‘em off?”

“Nope!” Jack sings far too cheerfully.

Rhys frowns. “Get outta class and take ‘em off! I’m not gonna sit next to you when you’re wearin’ heelys! Who the heck even—even names shoes as heelys? I hate you.”

“Sure you do.” Jack chirps. “If they bother ya thaaaat muuuuch then leeee-“

“No!” Rhys sits up. “Not an option! No way!” He’s about to say something else, but the school bell starts to ring and Rhys settles into his seat instead and glares at Jack. It’s an eventual trickle but, students fill up the classroom soon enough and Ms. Glee comes to class with a cheerful smile and a really pretty dress.

She always wears the nicest clothes, and sometimes she says things deliberately weirdly to confuse everyone. Not when she’s teaching, no, but when she’s generally talking to the class. Ms. Glee goes off topic a good few times, but Rhys never finds himself lost in her class.

… Though, that may be partly [or half, maybe] because of the fact that Jack understands science like he’s born for it. Rhys casts a glance over to Jack, stares at the boy nearly falling asleep on his crossed arms, and tilts his head to the side as he notices Jack staring off into the distance when his eyes aren’t slipping shut.

A frown appears on Jack’s lips briefly and he appears more awake, for half a second, before he’s back to tired and staring at the wall or not really paying attention. He hasn’t even gotten his book and notebook out, and when Rhys thinks about it he realises he hasn’t seen Jack bring his bag with him.

While Ms. Glee’s talking about something else, Rhys tries to as carefully as he can nudge his desk closer to Jack’s so that they can share books. He reaches into his bag to get some spare papers and when he looks up, Jack is looking at him and blinking owlishly.

He gives Jack a yellow mechanical pencil, because that is for Jack only, and gives a small smile. Blinking owlishly a few more times, Jack lets a big grin spread on his face and he ruffles Rhys’s hair roughly before he takes the spare papers, brings Rhys’s notebook closer, and copies the notes he missed while Glee Katoa talks about an incident involving alligators in her university.

Rhys doesn’t even know if she’s being serious or not when she talks about the alligators. Jack really doesn’t seem to care.

But he does, and it’s not about the story that Ms. Glee is telling. He watches the silent Jack sitting next to him, idly tapping the papers on the table with the lead of his pencil, and wonders if Rhys should try to talk first.

He drags his notebook back when Ms. Glee starts teaching again, and Rhys and Jack sit in relative silence for the rest of class. When the bell rings for the next class, Rhys looks up at Jack, sees him grin and give him a two-finger salute, and he says, “see you at Moxxi’s diner!” before he’s gathering the papers and leaving.

Glee watches Jack go with amusement glimmering in her eyes and when Rhys passes by, she waves at him. “Didn’ bring ‘is bag with’im, did he?” Ms. Glee asks and Rhys nods. “Well.” She shrugs. “‘is funeral, I guess! Hopefully it’s just right ‘round the corner.”

“Hopefully!”

“It is. I saw ‘im drop it when he was wheeling by.” Ms. Glee says, and Rhys stands there and stares up at her, unsure of what to say. “A’right hon, go on now. Felicity’s next for ya, isn’t she? She gets _really_ agitated when ‘er students are late. So up and at ‘em, Rhys. Get to it!”

He stammers a goodbye and rushes away as quickly as he can. Thankfully, Ms. Glee doesn’t say anything when he does that.

When he looks around for Jack, wondering where he went, and he spots nothing Rhys sighs and makes his way over to Ms. Felicity’s class.

* * *

His mother isn’t going to come to pick him up today, not when he has plans with Jack and Rhys is grateful that Lynne is nice enough to let him stay with Jack. He’s sitting on the bench outside of school, hands on his lap and bag next to his feet, while he waits for Jack to appear. Sasha and Vaughn left some time ago, and Yvette keeps him company for a bit before she has to leave too.

She’s going to graduate next year. Rhys’s shoulders slump and he deflates a little when he remembers that. Maybe next year he can try to give her something before she leaves? Something that Yvette’ll remember Rhys by?

He’ll have to ask Lynne what to do for Yvette, and Rhys rubs the back of his prosthetic with his flesh fingers. Rhys bets that Wilhelm has a much easier time moving his arms, and that his fingers move way better than his. He bets that Wilhelm’s prosthetics don’t feel that heavy, like his does. He bets that everything is better for Wilhelm.

Maybe Rhys’ll ask Jack. Better he doesn’t.

“Yo, nerdlinger!” Jack calls out and when Rhys looks up from his hands he sees that Jack is actually running to him. He’s wearing his usual sneakers instead of the atrocious ‘heelys’ and he’s waving one arm frantically at Rhys. “How’re yaaaaaa?”

Much to Rhys’s surprise, Jack’s bag _is_ with him. He looks at his bag then up at Jack and furrows his brow. “What took you so long?”

“I was with Nish and Timmy!” Jack shifts. “You’ve just been sittin’ here? _Alone?_ ”

Rhys shakes his head. “No,” he says, “Vaughn, ‘Vette, and Sash kept me company.”

“Eh.” Jack tilts his head. “I like Yvette.” Is the only thing Jack says as he flops down next to Rhys, his bag sitting in between his legs, and Rhys rests his elbows on his knees and places his hands on his face. “My mom’ll be here in ten minutes- she has to do somethin’ else first, and I think she just finished.”

Rhys nods. “That’s okay.” Rhys swings his legs and Jack stretches next to him. “What _do_ you and Nisha and Tim do, anyway?”

“I’uhno, we just sit and talk. Sometimes we play sports, or Nish and I make funna Tim.” Jack answers. “Though, Tim’s more often than not kicked our asses-“

“Rude.”

“Shoosh. Tim’s more often than not kicked our asses to the _curb_ with like, every game we play after we tease him, so I’m thinkin’ _maaaaybe_ we should stop? But Tim’s face is _really_ funny and cute when he gets teased.”

“Cute?” Rhys asks after a while, and Jack nods. “You think Tim’s cute?”

He glances over at Rhys from the corners of his eyes, mouth a flat line. “Yeah. He’s preeeetty damn cute. Tim’s cute and Nisha’s pretty as hell.”

Rhys hums in response when he hears that, eyes focusing on the ground before he looks back at his hands. He rubs circles on the back of his prosthetic hand and doesn’t say anything for a while. “You and Wilhelm are friends now, right?”

“Yep!” Jack rolls his shoulders. “He’s _really_ weird. He doesn’t talk much, but I do enough talkin’ for the both of us so, eh, don’t caaaare.”

“Does he even like you?”

Jack nods, and Rhys leaves it at that.

After a few minutes, Jack jumps and shoves his hand into his pocket to bring out his mobile. He squints at the small screen before making an ‘o’ with his mouth and he shoves the mobile back into his pocket. “Mom says to just walk there, because she’s being held up at work.” Jack says.

“I don’t know where it is.”

“Aaaaand I _dooohooohooooo!”_ Jack sings. “C’mon, follow me, it’s not that far away.”

 

Turns out, Jack’s right; it isn’t far away. From what he remembers, Moxxi’s diner is really pretty, and surprisingly not far like he thinks diners usually are. Or maybe Rhys just doesn’t understand diners; movies aren’t everything, right?

While they’re walking there, Jack keeps talking about this and that. Rhys tunes him in and out, because Jack is starting to ramble about—about a game? A game, Rhys thinks, that he has never really heard of, yet he seems so weirdly angry about it. It’s a shooter game about war, and Rhys flinches thinking about it and he doesn’t know _why_ Jack is so angry.

Maybe it’s a bad game about war? Rhys doesn’t know how anything about war can be good, really, and he trembles a little. Jack stops talking about that game and talks about something else instead.

He talks about a game where the player is a flower, and Rhys is more interested in that. Jack swings his arm over Rhys’s shoulder, and it’s a little awkward because Rhys is only slightly taller but it’s enough to be noticeable, and he talks animatedly about what he’s seen in trailers and how it seems really pretty.

Jack’s conversation about the game where the person can be a flower shifts to children’s games instead, and Rhys can’t help but smile.

When they make it there, the bell above the door rings and Moxxi’s diner is empty. The titular owner is leaning on the counter and her eyes glow with recognition as she catches sight of them both. She smiles at them and Rhys holds back the urge to shy behind Jack. Speaking of him, Jack just blushes and grins wide, waves his arm in that overly excited way of his again, and he drags Rhys to a booth so that they can sit down.

They set their bags aside and Moxxi makes her way over to them. “Hey there sugar.” Moxxi says fondly and she ruffles Jack’s hair and Rhys looks down at his lap and tries not to giggle at Jack. “How’ve you been? Keepin’ yourself outta trouble, I hope?” she looks over to Rhys, and her face is friendlier then. “Hey there, kiddo.”

“Hi.” Rhys manages and Jack, while fixing up his hair, rolls his eyes at him. “Um. Can we- may we order?” Rhys corrects himself, remembering what his English teacher once said, and Moxxi raises an eyebrow.

“Of course, honey. Let’s start with you. Whaddaya want?”

Rhys looks up then, realising that he has no clue, and he looks over to Jack for help. At that, Jack immediately jumps up and tugs at Moxxi. “He’ll have a slice o’ chocolate cake, and we’ll both have chicken burger with fries!”

He exhales in relief when Moxxi’s attention is back onto Jack and he relaxes when she’s going to go and get their order ready. “Thanks.” Rhys says, trying his hardest not to sound bitter, and Jack rests his elbows on the table and raises an eyebrow. “Why’d you get me cake, though?”

“Thought ya deserved it. Anyway!” Jack smacks his hands on the table and ignores Moxxi’s indignant ‘don’t do that!’. “I promised you I’ll talk aaaaall about the romcom in person now, which is great because then I remembered a bunch of shit I didn’t tell you that I can now tell you! With charades!”

“Isn’t charades when-“

“Shut up, Rhys.”

“No, seriously, isn’t charades when-“

“Okay! _Hand gestures._ ”

“That’s better.”

Jack glares. Rhys brightens up, though he immediately gives Jack a blank expression when he doesn’t even waste a second into talking about his romcom. Though, it doesn’t last for long because Jack’s then talking about something else almost immediately.

So no torture for him!

Moxxi comes in eventually with the cake and burgers, and she ruffles Jack’s hair again to mess it up and Rhys snickers at the whine he lets out. He flushes when Moxxi winks and fingerguns his way, and Rhys tries not to sink under the table to try and get away.

He really needs to learn to stop being embarrassed around Moxxi. Jack’s already stuffing his face with fries when Rhys says, “Thanks for bringing me here.”

When Jack lifts his head up, Rhys brings his hands up. “No, no, don’t—don’t talk. You’re _eating!_ Don’t talk to me!”  he digs into his own burger and fries after that, and Rhys doesn’t realise how actually _hungry_ he is until he actually gets to eat food.

Food is such a blissful welcome. He’s so happy. God bless whoever invented food. Thank Allah for letting them be able to eat. They both end up sharing the cake once they’ve eaten their burgers, because they are _far_ too full, and Rhys really doesn’t mind.

Though, he’d wish Jack would stop looking like he’s going to start talking with his mouth full and thus end up making Rhys recoil. “You’re welcome,” Jack ends up finally saying and he puffs his chest up. Rhys rolls his eyes.

“Why do you like going to Moxxi’s so often anyway?” he asks.

“She lets me read her adult mags.” Jack answers.

“Jack! _Jack!_ That’s so _gross—_ you’re—you’re thirteen! You shouldn’t be reading adult mags! Jaaaaaaaack! I’m telling!”

“What? No! Don’t you dare!”

He ends up not telling despite his desire to, and Rhys watches as Jack digs out his wallet – white and covered in blue hearts – to pay for the meal. He frowns when he doesn’t have enough for a tip, and Rhys is the one who ends up tipping Moxxi.

Before they leave, however, Rhys stalls near the door to the diner when he catches sight of a booth with three women, he thinks.

A red-haired one, a grey-haired, and one with blue hair and really, _really_ sharp facial features. He tilts his head, curious, before Jack grabs his wrist and drags him away.

“If _you’re_ late, your mom’s gonna call my mom and she’s gonna freak-“

“Don’t talk about my mum that way!”

“- so, c’moooon slowpoke, time’s a wastin’! We gotta get you home, then I’ma gonna get home!”

Jack walks him back all the way and he pays a brief visit to Sally – though Jack still calls her Supplepuff when Rhys tells him, and he hates it – before he leaves to go home.

Rhys knocks on the door, waits for his mother to answer the door, and gives her a tight hug when he gets home. “I’m gonna go do my homework now!” Rhys says as he goes upstairs, and Lynne yells an ‘okay’ in response.

When he goes upstairs he props Yasaman up on his study desk and gets to work, though he is probably going to have to check with Jack later to make sure his answers are right.

He wonders what grade ten and beyond is like.

* * *

At two-thirteen in the morning, Rhys wakes up because he has forgotten to put his mobile on silent and it’s been going off a lot. He grabs at his mobile, squints as he tries to read the far too bright screen, and he ends up falling asleep again with his mobile clenched in his grip.

When he wakes up again at four and manages to read the texts he got properly, Rhys’s heart plummets into his stomach when he sees they’re all from Jack.

All the texts are about him panicking because he had a nightmare about his soulmate tattoo, about it never appearing and him _never_ finding the right person, and there’s just a slew of text that make no sense and are disjointed but definitely sad.

At four o’clock, Jack has texted him a _‘hey, sorry aobut that. latei I kno. im ok now so please dw. see you tmrw!’_


	4. Chapter 4

Jack’s barely awake when Rhys sees him. He’s in three out of seven of his classes that day; eyes drooping and near constantly falling asleep. Not even Tassiter gets to him that day, and Rhys stares at the tired Jack that seems to drift off into brief sleep only to jolt awake again and look at his wrist.

There’s nothing on the left. Nothing on the right. Jack deflates, and Rhys looks at his own wrists.

There’s nothing on his left, and there never will be anything on the right. Jack looks over to him, catches Rhys staring at his right wrist and he reaches over and places his hand atop of his left hand, very barely, and traces over his knuckles.

Jack stops staring at his wrists after that, but once it’s recess and Jack is sitting next to him his eyes keep falling down to his wrists. Rhys reaches out over to Jack and pokes his nose, then pinches it when Jack barely reacts and he cries out. “Let gwo ov ma noze!” Jack says, his hand grabbing Rhys’s left wrist tightly and he squeezes and he lets go of him after that.

“Ow! What the hell!” Jack cries out, glares, and his hands are curled into tight fists on top of the lunch table and Rhys smiles sheepishly. “Ugh, I think my-“

“I know what you’re going to say,” Rhys interrupts, “so shut up.”

Jack snickers, though he immediately tries to suppress a yawn afterwards and practically jams his fist in his mouth in an attempt to do so. Rhys watches him, watches him rub his eyes and squint, and Jack is trembling ever so slightly.

He doesn’t really know why, or what to say. He looks at Jack’s tired face, at the fact that it looks far too sunken despite him only getting one night of bad sleep—or maybe more, Rhys doesn’t know.

Maybe he hasn’t been sleeping well? Rhys opens his mouth to ask.

“D’ya wanna talk ‘bout your nightmare?”

And those are not the words he means to say. He looks at Jack and he stares back at Rhys with a look that tells him he doesn’t really get what he’s saying. They’re quiet for a bit and his face starts to slowly burn with the shame and embarrassment, because Rhys is—Rhys is an idiot.

That isn’t what he means to say.

Jack just seems to stare at him blankly still. He blinks. Rubs at his eyes a bit more and groans in agitation, looks back up at Rhys and opens his mouth and closes it. “No.” Jack spits out. “I’m okay.”

“I don’t think so.” Rhys argues, without really thinking about it, and Jack gives him a glare so vicious that he shrinks a little. When Jack gestures around them, Rhys takes a look around and flinches when he remembers where they are.

They’re still at school. Probably not a good place to talk about this stuff. He looks down at his meal, probably cold now, and his shoulders droop. “Sorry.” Rhys says, blinks his eyes and he looks back up at Jack hopefully.

Jack just looks tired. “Whatever.” He says and Rhys looks back at his meal again and shifts around in his seat, wondering what to even tell Jack. Then Jack starts talking. “Hey; y’know the movie coming out? I don’t remember _what_ it is, but we gotta go watch it. It’s like, for us, and I hear it’s awful.”

“It’s not a romcom?” Rhys jokes and Jack glares at him.

“No, I mean— _I wish_ it was. Or—nah? Romcoms are pretty shitty.”

Rhys tilts his head to the side. “Maybe there’re some good ones ‘round and you’re just, like, really unlucky?”

“Nah! I d’no the meaning of unlucky!” Jack puffs up, proud and smiling even when he pinches one eye shut and then closes both eyes hard. “I’m tired.” He admits and Rhys shrugs awkwardly. “M’gonna see if I can last until like, Glee, then I’ma call my mom to take me home.”

“From the office?” Rhys asks.

“Nope.”

His eyes widen. “Your mom’s just gonna let you _leave?”_

Jack shrugs. “S’long as I don’t fail my classes? Yeah. Kinda? I mean, she doesn’t _like_ it but she’s seeing me do well sooooo…”

Rhys leans back, has to be caught by Jack when he leans back too far, and then shakes his head. “You’re really weird.”

He gets a grin for that and when Rhys is back on the bench proper, actually eating his now cold food with very little left of recess to spare, the silence of before is back and Jack is staring at his wrist while nibbling on a burger he got from the school café _._

Again, Rhys looks down at his own wrist and wonders.

* * *

Jack doesn’t stay until Glee’s class. By the time they get to Felicity’s, Jack is practically passing out and Rhys has to wonder how much sleep Jack  _did_ actually get. He remembers him being this way – two years ago – when he stayed up all night due to a dumb challenge or whatever. Rhys doesn’t remember why exactly, he just knows that Jack did it and he doesn’t get him at all.

When Jack is about to leave to go and wait for his mother, he waves at Rhys and gives him the tiniest grin he’s ever grinned and Rhys smiles and waves. “See ya tomorrow, Rhavioli!” Jack calls out and Rhys tilts his head and squints at Jack’s retreating form.

With him gone, it’s a bit lonely in Glee’s class. He doesn’t do well in her class, mostly because science is beyond him right now and Glee is _decent_ at teaching science. She understands it well enough – he thinks she majored in some form of science or something? He doesn’t remember – but trying to convey it is actually proving to be a challenge, from what Rhys understands. He remembers Yvette telling him that she’ll help him out with science if he wants her to.

Yvette’s _really_ good at science. She’s going to go to the U.S one day and graduate university there because her parents want her to.

He doesn’t know why the U.S in specific, but they want her to go there and graduate from there. Rhys bites his tongue and doesn’t tell her he thinks that’s the stupidest thing he’s ever heard.

After Glee’s class is Mrs. Henderson’s class. He thinks nobody knows her first name, so they just call her Mrs. Henderson even though she’s way better than her husband. Rhys just isn’t sure _why_ he doesn’t know her name.

Sasha and Vaughn are in this class and Rhys is lucky enough to have saved his seat in between them, so the loneliness from Glee’s class immediately goes away. He crosses his arms and rests them on the school desk and listens to Sasha hiss angrily about Ms. Felicity because she _really_ doesn’t like her.

“She likes that Dahl company from U.S far too much, if ya ask me.” Sasha hisses out and Rhys just hums, vaguely remembers that the Dahl company sends a good few of their savings and some of the guns they make over to the U.S military, and he doesn’t know anything else. He doubts that Sasha knows any more than he does, so he listens to her hiss angrily for what he thinks is for no reason.

Vaughn mostly hums and grunts in response, busy trying to doodle something into his notebook and his brows furrow. “Damn.” He says and Rhys looks over to see what looks like a failed attempt at a very detailed elephant and he moves away immediately.

Mrs. Henderson starts talking loudly and they focus on her for a while, even when Sasha is hissing about something else now and Vaughn finally hisses back. “Rhys!” Sasha calls out, softly so that Mrs. Henderson doesn’t get angry, and he looks up at her curiously. “Do you have your math notes with you? … Also, what’s up with you?”

“Do you have your soulmate tattoo yet?” Rhys asks and Sasha blinks. She looks at Vaughn and Rhys follows her look and he shrugs awkwardly from their stares. “Do _you_ have your tattoo?”

He checks to make sure Mrs. Henderson isn’t looking, adjusts his glasses, before he looks down at his right hand with the giant watch and drags it down a little to show off his tattoo.

It looks like a bunch of ‘Xs’ inside of dog heads and Rhys’s brows furrow. “That’s your tattoo? Did it just appear one day?”

“More like,” Vaughn says after looking around, “in the middle of the night? My skin started to feel really itchy and when I looked, my wrist was glowin’ and then. Poof! This just popped up.”

“Huh.” Rhys says. “Huh.” He repeats. “ _Huh.”_ He says finally. “That’s it? It just popped up? And your skin felt itchy?”

Vaughn shrugs. “More or less, yeeeeah. Why?”

“No reason.” Rhys admits and if Sasha and Vaughn notice him looking at his wrist then they don’t really say anything about it.

Well, whatever. He has class to worry about.

The day goes by quickly after that, and he spends a little bit of time with Sasha before she has to leave because his own mother is late today. He twiddles his thumbs and chews on his lower lip in thought when Sasha runs up to her own mother, Fiona appearing out of nowhere, and she yells enthusiastically about something that Rhys tunes out.

He _thinks_ they’re going to go to the waterpark today, which lucky her. He hopes she has fun.

When Lynne arrives and he’s in her car, he presses his hands together. “ _Maman,”_ Rhys begins, _“tattooye to chetori umad?”_

 _“Yanni chi?”_ she asks and Rhys sees her look up at him through the mirror before she looks back at the road.

“Did it- _dardet umad?”_ he intertwines his fingers and stares down at his feet.

“Yes. _Suzesh dawd baseye man. Baseye yek hafte, dastam misukht.”_

He doesn’t ask anything else after that and Lynne looks at him curiously, briefly, when she stops before she looks back at the road. “ _Cherra miporsi?”_

_“Fag’ghat mikham bedonam.”_

_“Kassi tattoosho gereft?”_

_“Vaughn.”_

_“Tattoosh mobarak.”_

Rhys smiles brightly and Lynne laughs and shakes her head. “ _Behesh migam.”_ He says, and the carried home is peacefully quiet after that.

He’ll send Jack a text later, asking if he wants to go to the mall or something. Not today; he thinks Jack is going to be too busy sleeping to go to the mall with him.

Maybe this weekend instead?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Mom, how'd your tattoo come?"  
> "What does that mean?"  
> "Did it hurt?"  
> "Yes. It burnt [mildly] for me. For one week, my hand/wrist burnt [a little]. Why do you ask?"
> 
> "I just wanna know."
> 
> "Did someone get their tattoo."
> 
> "Vaughn."
> 
> "[A] celebration to his tattoo." [[ "Mubarak" here is also used for "Happy new year" [eidet mubarak], "Happy Birthday" [tavalodet mubarak]. I hope you get what I mean. ]]
> 
> "I'll tell him."


End file.
